JUNE 28, 2011

Whiting discusses Safety Car revisions

FIA race director Charlie Whiting has confirmed that there could be some revisions to the Safety Car procedure in F1 so that when races resume, lapped cars do not interfere with the front-runners. Talks followed the multiple Safety Cars during the Canadian GP.

Discussing putting lapped cars to the back of the field to allow leaders to race cleanly at the front, Whiting admitted: "It's on the agenda. We've attempted to before but the procedure then was a bit complicated. I think there are simpler ways of doing it and we've discussed a few but haven't been able to agree everything yet.

"It would make everyone's life a bit easier. There are ways of doing it but you need to leave the Safety Car out a bit longer and I think that is the main downside to it. If you let the cars through, which you can, it takes two more laps of the Safety Car, which is not what anyone wants.

"But, if you let them go to the back, they lose a lap. It would be better, I think, to let them get the whole of that lap back, which I think would be a fairer way of doing it. But I agree, when the race restarts again you don't want lapped cars there because it dilutes the field."